Abstract

How can beginners acquire vocabulary from context (e.g., through reading) if they do not know enough words? A common technique for teaching new words to beginners is through pictures. Although there is some research in this area, it is unclear how well beginners internalize words taught through pictures. This study's objective was to examine the effectiveness of pictures in word learning by using measures of form and meaning processing. Eighteen English true beginners of Spanish and 18 native Spanish speakers first studied 26 novel Spanish concrete nouns briefly presented three times with pictures, and then performed two reaction-timed tasks. In episodic recognition (form processing), they saw the 24 target words (and 24 foils) and indicated which words they had seen during study. In translation recognition (meaning processing), they saw the target 24 words paired with either correct, semantically associated, or incorrect English translations, and indicated whether the translation was correct or not. In the episodic recognition task, the beginners and the native speakers were equally fast in recognizing recently studied words. In the translation task, beginners learned the 24 words to a high degree of accuracy (86% correct), and both groups were slower in responding to semantically associated translations than to incorrect translations. These results show that the learners could access both the forms and the meanings of novel words, and suggest that the use of pictures is a quick and efficient technique for committing words to memory.